“Police will allege the man is involved in the sale and supply of methamphetamine and other drugs in Alice Springs,” Sgt Philips says.

“We will allege that at the residence were 7 grams of methamphetamine, 13 grams of cannabis, an unregistered shotgun, a modified ‘sawn off’ shotgun, a significant quantity of unsecured ammunition, a knuckleduster and knife, in excess of $7,000 cash and a large box of fireworks.”

The man has been bailed to appear in the Alice Springs Magistrates Court on 19 May.

“We are extremely relieved to have these weapons and drugs off the streets,” says Sgt Philips.

“Methamphetamine destroys lives and families and we urge all Territorians to help us get these drugs and drug dealers off our streets.”

5 Comments (starting with the most recent)

NB: If you want to reply to a previous comment, start your comment with this notation: @n where n is the number of the comment you want to reply to.

Evelyne Roullet

Posted May 19, 2015 at 4:20 pm

Like Barkly Magpie stated, rehabilitation is not cheap … may be patients with self-inflicted ailments should pay for all their medical costs.
People take drugs for many different reasons. Whatever the reason, when individuals decide to take drugs it is always their choice, having the strength to say “no” may be hard, however if they knew they will be on their own if all goes wrong maybe they will think twice before starting using.

@ Hal: I agree jailing users is not the answer, it’s the dealers who I am concerned about.
In late April, a man appeared in court in Alice Springs charged with manufacturing a commercial quantity of MDMA, possession of a commercial quantity of the drug and supplying a traffickable quantity of the drug.
He had an extensive criminal record including for drug offences. He received 18 months to serve.
In early April, a man who had brought almost $2.5 million worth of cannabis to the Territory and who had significant history of large scale supply and production in other states received five years to serve.
In early March, a Darwin man who was caught by police with a commercial quantity of LSD and a trafficable quantity of ice served two weeks in jail. There are numerous other examples of large scale drug dealing before Territory courts in recent years; the sentences listed are typical of those other cases.
Some sections of the community would consider such sentences far too lenient. Other people who believe prohibition does not work would consider the sentences manifestly excessive.
Clearly, such sentences are not a deterrent particularly with the rewards on offer to successful traffickers and dealers. With ice anecdotally worth one million dollars a kilo in Darwin, a few weeks in jail – if you get caught – is a small price to pay.
There is also the question of the cost. There is no question there will be a growing number of particularly ice addicts into the future, which will mean greater demand and that all leads to a growing burden on police and the courts, as well as the cost of rehabilitation. Incarceration is not cheap, conservatively between $150-200,000 a year plus court costs, travel, lawyers and the burden on social services.
Putting addicts into jail without withdrawal will have tragic consequences and will place a strain on a prison system which is arguably struggling to cope anyway.
The old three-plant rule in the Territory worked fine for years. We are never going to stop drugs (Tolly, I am sure, would argue it’s a core value of all Territorians to enjoy a relaxing cone after a hard day at the salt mine) but we need to keep on our legislators to do something to minimise the damage from harder drugs.
Police have told me hydroponic cannabis has up to 28 times the THC of bush weed. Have a nip of scotch and see how you feel. Now chug a bottle and see if you can even find your car.

@ The Barkly Magpie, Posted May 18, 2015 at 4:13 pm
I agree that 18 months and 12 months is far too lenient for convicted meth dealers. Put them away for five years non-parole and find the space to hold them in our already over crowded jails by not jailing pot smokers.

@ Hal: It’s a fair point you make but the problem with your argument is you can’t take greed out of the equation.
I agree entirely – get those who will use gunja back onto bush weed and the Territory would be a finer place.
As we learned with kava, however, those who deal in misery find a way around it.
There are always buyers for better, stronger, faster – in everything from sports drinks to drugs and many punters are looking for something that will really mess them up.
And as a taxpayer, I am tired of good government money going into providing a holiday home for dealers. Perhaps the Territory needs to get a whole lot tougher on fines for dealing drugs of any description – get caught selling anything and you will pay for it for the rest of your naturals.
At least that would fund the rehab centres we are going to need a lot more of, and very soon at that.
In late March, a man who delivered almost half a kilogram of ice to Darwin – and who was observed by the court to be fundamentally a professional large scale courier of the drug – was given 18 months’ jail.
The man who travelled with him and arranged the sale of the drugs to local buyers received 12 months’ jail.
Both had extensive records interstate for the same kind of thing. My question is why are we spending an estimated $400,000 to give them room and board for a while?
Draconian fines with a lifetime to pay may be a better option.

I was encouraged to read that Minister Tollner wants to open the debate on de-criminalising marijuana in the NT.
Methamphetamine in all its forms is a recreational drug from hell. This has been proven repeatedly over at least the last 40 years. Heroin is not much of an improvement.
Also proven repeatedly over at least the last 4,000 years is that mankind will use recreational drugs.
De-criminalise marijuana while getting on top of the chemically grown varieties that give us “skunk”, have the police concentrate on stopping the growing threat of powders – especially “ice” and return some sanity to the use of recreational drugs.